The mothers of Brahim Chabane, Réda Khaldi and Nassim Loubani appeared before the Bouches-du-Rhône Assize Court on Monday, November 2, during the eleventh day of the trial over the three men’s killings. Their sons, all in their twenties, were killed and their bodies burned near Marseille on the night of December 28–29, 2020.
The women spoke through tears as photographs of their sons and of Khaldi’s grave were shown in court. Their testimony was followed by two of the five defendants giving accounts of the events, addressing questions that had remained unresolved during the proceedings.
Zakaria Bensaci, who had said little earlier in the trial, apologized to the mothers for being present when their sons died. He also said that all three victims had died at the same time. After a recess, he gave a lengthy account of the night of the killings and pointed to alleged key roles played by Amine Oualane and Karim Harrat.
The hearing had been repeatedly disrupted before the mothers were finally called to testify. Defense lawyer Pierre-Olivier Sur urged the court to let the defendants address them and later pressed for further questioning of two defendants.
The proceedings also took a turn with the addition of conversations from the encrypted messaging service Sky ECC. According to the case summary, the messages could support the allegation that Harrat acted as the person who commissioned the killings.
Sources: Le Monde.